Garmin nuvi 67LM

5-inch GPS devices are the new 4.3-inch GPS devices while 6-inch GPS navigators take the larger screen helm. With Garmin’s new 2015 Essential Line, it doesn’t look like this trend will stop anytime soon but it also a common trend for newly announced entry-level GPS navigators to get a feature or two from last year’s midrange devices. This time around, Garmin is doing things a bit more aggressively by pulling several great features from more expensive Garmin nuvi devices. The Garmin nuvi 67LM is the company’s cheapest 6-inch GPS device to receive these new improvements.

Design

Adding an extra inch diagonally to the screen does make a pretty significant difference. The 6-inch display makes the menus and maps easier to see from afar and the boost to 800×480 resolution means that everything is sharper. It only weighs a couple of ounces more than the 5-inch model too so you don’t get much of a tradeoff aside from the increased price compared to the Garmin nuvi 57LM. Basically, the nuvi 67LM has the same physical specifications as its 6-inch predecessor although the bottom portion of the bezel was slightly tweaked. The package still bundles the USB cable, suction cup mount and vehicle power cable.

Features

It is also nice to see Garmin continuing the trend of giving lifetime maps to everyone since, at the time of writing, there is no 2015 Garmin 6-inch device that lacks lifetime maps. This vital feature ensures that the map data and POI (point of interest) database stays up-to-date every few months. There is no subscribing involved and it stays free forever. Unlike any of the older Garmin models with lifetime map updates, you can also tap into Foursquare’s more relevant database to discover new places or get more information about a place you already recognize. This feature was first introduced in the 2014 Advanced Series and it works the same way putting the Foursquare results on top when you conduct a search. Tapping on a Foursquare result gives you the kind information you would expect to see on the Foursquare smartphone app. But this type of integration is even better than smartphones since you have access to this data at all times as no Internet access is necessary. In fact, the Garmin nuvi 67LM can’t even access the Internet as it has no Bluetooth or wireless connectivity of any sort.

Another feature that the nuvi 67LM is inheriting from the 2014 Advanced Series is Direct Access. This feature goes a bit beyond the role of an automotive GPS device by pinpointing the exact location of something in a larger POI such as a mall or an airport. This enables you to find the entrance of the airport or search for a particular store inside a mall. Direct Access can tell you what floor that store is or where to find that good parking spot.

If that wasn’t enough, Garmin is also taking the Garmin Real Directions feature from their 2013 flagship nuvi. This is a feature that should benefit every driver as it makes the already impressive turn-by-turn directions even easier to understand. Garmin devices without this feature could tell you to make a turn at a particular street, which you should probably find if you are familiar with the area. The Garmin nuvi 67LM, on the other hand, can tell you to turn at a certain traffic light or landmark near that intersection instead. This is great for people who tired of staring at the map whenever they are not familiar with street names in the area.

This concludes the new features showcase but you can’t forget all the nice things that made Garmin’s 2014 Essential Lineup a force to be reckoned with. The nuvi 67LM retains all of that including the Up Ahead feature, which you can bring up in the map view at any time whenever you want to see nearby POIs along with the closest POI in a given category. There is also the lane assist with junction view feature that will guide you to the right lane to make sure you turn at the correct exit to continue your planned route.

With the Garmin nuvi 67LM mounted on your dashboard or windshield, you no longer need to buy a monitor if you want to give your car a rear camera. Instead, you can buy the $169.99 BC 30 backup camera as it can wirelessly link to the nuvi 67LM and automatically switches to camera view when you reverse.

Bottom Line

Garmin is being way too generous with the Garmin nuvi 67LM because there are even fewer reasons to consider a higher-end model. If you don’t need the Bluetooth, voice navigation, Canada maps and real-time traffic features but want a cheap 6-inch device, all you need is just $180 and you are all set. Thanks to the Foursquare partnership, the nuvi 67LM is the best 6-inch GPS navigator to buy if you need a huge POI database and all those extra features make it even better.